musings and stories by a wife, mom, teacher

Left Speechless…

Yesterday I shocked my kiddos. I mean dramatic gasping, jaw dropping, speechless kind of shocked. And all I had to say to them was “Boys and Girls, I have a secret to tell you. I don’t actually love to write.” And that was it…loud gasps, hands to their faces in disbelief, and even a few of them said”whaaaat?” while their eyes popped out of their heads.

After their shock wore off, and they started to breathe normally again, I began to tell them about why I didn’t love to write:

“You see boys and girls, writing was never fun for me. I never felt like I could do it. It made me nervous. I didn’t get to choose my topics – I was told what to write about. And, sometimes I couldn’t even think of what to write. My stories always had a lot of red corrections on them and that made me think my writing was no good. My past experiences did not leave good feelings in me. But, of course I do write, but really only when I have to; not because I love it or want to. What’s interesting is that even though I don’t love to write myself; it’s what I love teaching the most.”

And then, some of them sharing their feelings about writing. “I just looooove writing,” one little girl said with her hands on her heart. Another girl shook her head saying “not me…well in kindergarten I didn’t like reading or writing, but now I kinda do.”

As the little conversations started to die down, I thought it was a good time to tell them about the March writing challenge and why I decided to give it a try. There were some surprised looks when I explained that part of the challenge was to publish and post a piece of writing every day for 31 days. When I showed them my blog, they cheered and cheered. “You’re famous!” “You’re being brave!” “Wait, now you only have 30 more left.” “So, do you like writing more now?” (Aren’t first graders just so precious and great ego boosters?!) I told them that they’re part of the reason I decided to be brave and take on this challenge. I want to learn more about being a writer myself so that I can be an even better writing teacher. Their big smiles (and more cheers) was more motivation for me to keep on slicing! Maybe they will now ask ME “how’s your writing going?”

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5 thoughts on “Left Speechless…”

Woohoo for you and your first graders! One of the most important things for kids to learn is that learning is lifelong and the teacher doesn’t have all the skills and all the answers. Great to see you on Day 2.

So great that you are slicing! I think your students love your honesty. It is interesting that writing is your favorite thing to teach. After a month of slicing, it may also be one of your most favorite things to do. You are building up your writing muscles. I will keep reading…Brava!

Our students love finding out that we are humans too. They are comforted with knowing that we don’t get things perfect the first time or we struggle at things too. Mine know I start every drawling on the board with “Remember I’m not Mr.G (our art teacher)…” They always have something positive to say about the drawing when it’s finished.